"It is dinner time."

Translation: È ora di cena.

[ibryesn]

What is the difference between using tempo and ora?

[LorenzoLM]

I think tempo is more the passage of time (we spend time or the time of a vacation) while ora is more the specific time (the time for a specific activity) but I could be mistaken

[meandmyshadow0]

The hour of the clock

[SharonMullen1]

tempo is time and ora is literally hour, ora is more specific and tempo is more general

[bagellio02]

I second this question...

[Snb1959]

While echoing the same sentiment, I think we need to conver the English sentence from Active to Passive and then try translating to Italian, most of the time.

[Polyglotta]

Maybe I didn't learn this correctly. Why is it not della cena? Why di? Help please.

[Chris123456]

Literally "è ora di cena" is "it is the hour of dinner." If you use "è ora della cena" it means "it is the hour of THE dinner." Possibly this sounds as awkward in Italian as it does in English. Hope this helps :)

[johnclover]

My strategy has always been to - when in doubt - add the "the" in Italian sentences because they say "the" a lot more often then we do. But I guess in this case it's incorrect.

[GraemeJeal]

Except that the correct sentence given to me was "É l'ora della cena"

[mariaelena256]

thanks for this clarification

[carltonthemighty]

So saying "è cena tempo" is 100% wrong?

[darkAngel263]

I am almost positive that it is simply my English-speaking brain taking over, but why wouldn't it be "È tempo di cena"?

[robert597]

Still not being accepted Jan 2020

[Uomo_Siciliano]

È ora di cena = it's dinner time.

È il momento di cenare = it's time to eat dinner.

[forrestgreen]

I wrote "è l'ora di cena," which was correct but now I'm confused about why l' for ora is optional.

[SlickMick]

Same question as forrestgreen: why is the l' optional before ora? Someone please explain.

[Connor_devonish]

why not ' e' tempo di cena'?

[ibryesn]

Why does È la cena ora not work?

[ThinkerXT]

Because Italian syntax is not the same as English syntax. You can't just translate from English to Italian word for word.

[JasonWold]

Why not la ora? Why is the dropped

[TinaPhelps]

It is"il vestito da sera" but "ora di cena". Trying to apply the logic is not working for me.

[K2mission]

I was trying to figure out why it was "di" and not "da" cena too.

[Francine236534]

Yes, that is my question too. Why "di"? Hope someone answers this.

[SharonMullen1]

what is the difference between da and di

[aliza396379]

"Da" is "from" and "di" is "of"

[moshearg]

Clarify this for me:
È cena ora
It is, dinner, time.

They didnt say to translate
It is, the time, of dinner
Aka
È ora di cena.

?

[mskycc3]

You have to translate the sentence as a whole, including the grammar rules of the language; you can't just translate the individual words in the order they appear.

[AbidJee]

È tempo cenare. But i don't know why they have written. ......

[GenevieveHalsted]

They've given me the answer as "E l'ora per mangiare la cena". I don't know where that one came from - there was no mention made of actually eating.

[droginator]

You will rarely hear an italian family actually say this phrase.

[sandslane]

can you say per la cena instead of di cena?

[liz26036]

why not "É il tempo di cena" ?

[meandmyshadow0]

Why! The hour of dinner.

[alessio720074]

Why isn't it È ora cena?

[gataca5]

È la hora di cena? Is it correct?